Really, is anyone named Cheney entitled to an opinion on anything?

"Americans expect our president to do everything possible to defend the nation from attack ... We expect him to use every tool at his disposal to find, defeat, capture and kill terrorists. We expect him to deter attacks by making clear to our adversaries that an attack on the United States will carry devastating consequences."

Well, except for that one time. We all agreed to let that one pass, right?

at least they didn't include his middle name

TROY, NY - Oops!

Officials at an upstate elections board were red-faced yesterday after mailing hundreds of absentee ballots offering "Barack Osama" as the Democratic choice for president.

The Rensselaer County Board of Elections recalled 300 ballots that erroneously featured the al Qaeda leader's name.

"The error was not deliberate, and the Board of Elections is continuing to fairly manage the upcoming general election in a bipartisan and cooperative manner," Republican Larry Bugbee and Democratic Edward McDonough said.

Bugbee said the ballot had slipped through despite three different proofreaders, according to the Albany Times Union.

Morning in America (cont'd)

An overwhelming majority of National Journal's Republican Political Insiders were eager for much of the GOP convention to be spent attacking the Democrats.

Asked how much of the Republican convention's program should be "devoted to tearing down Barack Obama and the Democratic brand," 55 percent of Insiders said "about half" and 16 percent said "more than half"
. . .

Another remarked, "There's no rebuilding the GOP™ brand between now and Election Day. We need to bring [Democrats] down to our level."

the wit and wisdom of Snohomish County Republicans

Snohomish County GOP pulls "$3 bills" smearing Obama from fair booth

The head of the Snohomish County Republican Party apologized Tuesday after the organization's booth at the Evergreen State Fair in Monroe sold "$3 bills" depicting Barack Obama wearing Arab headgear and featuring a camel.

Geri Modrell, the Snohomish County Republican chairwoman, said a volunteer had brought the bills to the fair thinking they were funny...

The $3 bills, which are sold on a conservative Web site, feature signatures from "Teddy Kennedy" as chief socialism adviser and Al Sharpton as new spiritual adviser. Obama's face, in the traditional Arab headgear, is pictured above the words "Da man..."

"This was not an official act of the party," said Modrell. "I apologize for any misunderstanding."

I'm sorry, was there a misunderstanding? The only thing I misunderstand is where the phokking misunderstanding might have been. I think everyone understands. And I guess by "any" misunderstanding, you also understand that there might not have been a misunderstanding. But thanks for the lame non-apology apology.

whitey: fullas#i+

Only nine per cent of Americans say they'd be uncomfortable about electing a black president, the LA Times found -- but a majority say they "know someone" who feels this way: that's a standard pollster's technique to try to get around the unwillingness of respondents to admit to racist thoughts.

Saw this on our printer

Well, not the whole blog, just the featured picture. I found this article on the pic.

This just in: Jon Voight is profoundly developmentally disabled

Jon Voight's Obama Op-Ed: "[He] Falls Short In Every Way"

The Democratic Party, in its quest for power, has managed a propaganda campaign with subliminal messages, creating a God-like figure in a man who falls short in every way. It seems to me that if Mr. Obama wins the presidential election, then Messrs. Farrakhan, Wright, Ayers and Pfleger will gain power for their need to demoralize this country and help create a socialist America.

Assuming Pfleger et al have a "need to demoralize the country," could the U.S. and A. possibly get much more demoralized than they are already?

That dog don't hunt

Ready for the Next Mini-Maelstrom?

Dan Rather, on Morning Joe, just said something a handful of minutes ago that will dominate a lot of chatter today and will have implications for the race going forward. Asked by Tiki Barber about his take on Fox News' release of the Jesse Jackson off-camera video, Rather premised his take by noting that in today's 24/7 news media culture, you had better be ready for anything you say to be on the front page of the newspaper tomorrow, after being all over TV the day before.
Rather then proceeded to talk about his respect for Jesse Jackson, who had certainly "paved the way for Osama bin Laden." (Yes, the whole name.) Nobody reacted or said a word, and Rather did not notice. To drive the irony point home, he then finished by referring back to the "front page of the newspaper" a 2d time.
Rather has just given carte blanche for Republicans to "slip" and negate the hue and cry with "Rather made the slip too... innocent mistake!" Wonder if McCain himself will do it in one high profile way and Plead the Rather.

Only 12?

Believe it or not

News Item: Twelve percent of Americans still believe Barack Obama is a Muslim.

Ignorant, and proud.
~

The Nation's fears

In picture form...

Nate Silver stuffs it in Washington Post's face

So indeed, Obama received a "discount" -- the same discount that any borrower in his position would have received.

there is probably an interesting story behind that

McCain, however, appears to be less interested in speaking to the millions of Clinton voters who fall somewhere between the cracks, and more interested in engaging the handful of crazies who dislike Barack Obama for wholly irrational reasons. Take Will Bower, the founder of a group called PUMA ("Party Unity My Ass"). On Saturday, Bower met with John McCain. On Wednesday, Bower attended Larry Sinclair's press conference, saw Sinclair literally accuse Obama of murder, saw Sinclair's lawyer wearing a kilt, saw Sinclair flee the room after the press conference because he was moments away from being arrested, and came away saying that Sinclair's story was "worth exploring". That means that McCain is either one or two degrees removed from the lunatic fringe, depending on what you think of Bower's state of mind.

$h!tcag0 C****? That's the best he can come up with?

The fans of a baseball team in a city about 300 miles southwest of Chicago like to proclaim themselves the best baseball fans in the world. They aren't, but their delusions of grandeur tend to lead to a paranoid schizophrenia type condition. This one is unhinged even by inbred redneck hillbilly standards.

what's a little s#i+ blowing up between friends?

Obama and the war

Before Barack Obama can get his presidential hands on the Iraq War, it might end, not in disaster as he figures, but in an American victory. (YAY! -- Ed.)

He, his fans and much of the media haven't noticed in the heat of the presidential campaign, but the war is winding down, if not nearing its end. Fewer military and civilians killed or wounded; fewer insurgent attacks; more order and security, especially in such troubled areas as Basra and Sadr City; more reconciliation; improved quality of life, and—-not the least—-greater liberties.

Still, Obama's perspective remains unchanged. There's no accommodation to changed circumstances, only his iron-willed pandering to anti-war voters. As of this writing, his blah blah blah blah....

News item: At Least 51 Are Killed in Blast at Baghdad Market

I guess this rules all of us out for VP

Obama starts Web-rumor response site

The campaign this morning unveiled a web site, www.fightthesmears.com, devoted to countering damaging material it deems false. The site features campaign responses to rumors and asks supporters to upload their address books to email those rebuttals to friends, family and colleagues.

The top of the list of "smears" this morning is a report that a video exists of an angry Michelle Obama denouncing "whitey."

"Well, both if we could..."

Watch yet another idiot on Fox News. As well, the interview is minutes of nothing - which is not much of a surprise. Why not talk about the fallacy of the historical analogy in the first place - about how it's not just a tone deaf comment, but a comment that shows no kind of subtlety about historical or political discourse. And haven't we had enough of politicians painting in broad, disingenuous strokes?

Oh right, it's Fox.

They love that shit. Speak that shit. Wallow in that shit.

now even al Qaeda hates him

but we should sit them down with the good squirrel-brain-eating folks in Kentucky so we can at least figure out once and for all why we're supposed to hate him.

Barack Obama – Muslim apostate?

Should Obama become US commander in chief, there is a strong likelihood that Al Qaeda's media arm, As-Sahab, will exploit his background to argue that an apostate is leading the global war on terror (read: attacks against fellow Muslims). This perception would be leveraged to galvanize sympathizers into action.

I wonder how this will turn out?

Obama, McCain Aim to Curb '527s'

Sen. Barack Obama's top fundraisers have asked his campaign donors to refrain from contributing to liberal independent political organizations in hopes of controlling the tone and message of the general-election campaign.

At a meeting in Indianapolis on May 2, members of the Democratic front-runner's finance committee made it clear Obama (Ill.) is worried that overtly negative advertising from outside organizations could undermine his themes of unity and hope.

"If people want to support our campaign, they should do it through our campaign," Obama spokesman Bill Burton said.

The meeting was only the most overt effort by Obama or Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), the presumptive Republican nominee, to freeze out "527" groups -- named after a provision in the tax code -- which are not allowed to openly support a candidate but have helped define recent elections through negative advertising.

The McCain campaign has been less organized than Obama's in its efforts to counter the groups, but the senator from Arizona has made clear his antipathy toward them -- without much effect.

"We will attack Obama viciously on all fair issues, whether they are national security, whether they are taxes or the economy," promised Chris LaCivita, one of the Republican strategists behind the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, the group that attacked Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kerry in 2004. LaCivita added: "At the end of the day, every individual has a right to participate in the political process whether John McCain likes it or not. It's their constitutional right."

wouldn't a simple plague of locusts be more traditional?

One experienced, credible activist in Christian politics who would not let his name be used told me Huckabee in personal conversation with him embraced the concept that an Obama presidency might be what the American people deserve. That fits what has largely been a fringe position among evangelicals, that the pain of an Obama presidency is in keeping with the Bible's prophecy.

According to this activist, at the heart of the let-Obama-win movement is longtime Virginia conservative leader Michael Farris -- the nation's leading home-school advocate, who is now chancellor of Patrick Henry College (in Purcellville, Va.) for home-schooled students. Farris is regarded as one of the hardest-edged Christian politicians. He is reported in evangelical circles to promote the biblical justification for an Obama plague-like presidency.
-- The Asshole Bob Novak

This just in: there is a college for home-schooled children run by an evangelical Christian who advocates an Obama presidency as the plague America needs and deserves, in case you've been wondering where tomorrow's leaders are coming from.

numbers schmumbers... why should we just count numbers, as if they were like votes or some s#i+?

Dis took balz...

"We don't think this is just going to be about some numerical metric," Clinton strategist Geoff Garin told Dan Balz in the April 23 Washington Post. "When we get to those days after June 3rd, we think the real choice is who's proven themselves to be the best candidate."